PhD student in Public Policy, Mr Mphathesithe Mkhize won first place in the Research Category at the Moses Kotane Institute (MKI) Research and Innovation Awards held at the ICC, Durban recently.
He won for his master’s Research.
‘I believe this award will inspire many people to do great things, especially young people who are passionate about conducting impactful research and are committed to positively affecting change. The youth inspire greatness. That’s why they need to be recognised for their great work too,’ he said.
His research on Localising the Sustainable Development Goals in Rural Municipalities through Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships: A case study of Nkandla Local Municipality investigated the role of local government in localising the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through multi-stakeholder partnerships to achieve long-term municipal objectives.
He strongly believes that the global problems confronting society can be solved through efficient application of public policy. ‘My research contributes to research on the SDGs and to the growing area of research on localising them as United Nations goals through partnerships.’ He recommends that small municipalities improve such partnerships in order to achieve the goals of Agenda 2030.
Mkhize is also grateful to his supervisor, Dr Cheryl Mohamed Sayeed who enabled him to grow as an emerging researcher to conduct impactful research.
Speaking about his achievement, Mohamed Sayeed said: ‘This award is a true reflection of Mphathesithe’s dedication and perseverance to undertake a research endeavour that is of the highest quality and that has the potential to be impactful. He approached every consultation as an opportunity to learn. This openness to different ways of thinking and approaching research made it easy to guide him.’
Offering advice to other scholars, Mkhize said: ‘Budding researchers should ensure that they develop passion for research so that they achieve the best in what they research on.’
